NTMA chief executive John Corrigan. The NTMA has announced an auction of Treasury Bills this Thursday. Photo: Brenda Fitzsimons/The Irish Times NTMA to sell €500m of bonds

Agency will offer €500 million of treasury bills with a three-month maturity this Thursday

 US president Barack Obama   in Belfast this week. Photograph:  Paul Faith/Getty Images Obama shows NI is open for business

Business hopes US president’s stirring words will echo wide and far

Legal services 'a drag on Ireland's competitiveness'

Message is contained in the Commission’s unpublished spring 2013 review of Ireland’s bailout programme

Jim Rohr of PNC Financial Services Group claims that there is no real appetite in the Obama administration to reform the way US corporations are taxed Tax reform debate not a risk to Ireland, says US banking executive

Jim Rohr of PNC Financial Services says a 2-3% tax hike would not put off US firms

Setting up the National Pension Reserve Fund was one of  Charlie McCreevy’s  better decisions as minister for finance. Photograph: Frank Miller Stimulus fund does not alter Government’s fiscal stance

Analysis: closing the deficit means contractionary stance must continue

Unemployed immigrants in Ireland are less likely to be getting social welfare assistance than unemployed natives, an international conference on migration has heard. Immigrants less likely to be getting social welfare

Wage gap between natives and immigrants has changed little, conference told

Irish property market has hit bottom, probably

As with economic growth, forecasting with any precession the property market is impossible

Edward Kleinbard, professor of law at the University of Southern California, addressed the House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee. Capitol Hill hears how tax-avoiding giants create ‘stateless income’

Professor calls for tax rate of 25 per cent on worldwide corporate income

The Government has agreed a new, later start date for water charges Water charges due by end 2014

Latest Troika memorandum gives new dates for water charges and bank stress tests

The cost alcohol increased 4.1 per cent in the year since May 2012 according to the Central Statistics Office. Photo: Bloomberg Inflation eases to lowest rate in three years

Consumer prices down due to lower mortgage interest repayments and fuel prices

Losses at Ulster Bank amounted to £10 billion, exceeding those in the rest of the RBS group combined. Photograph:  Bryan O’Brien/The Irish Times Ulster Bank ‘cost British taxpayers £10 billion’

Bank accounted for one in four pounds of losses at state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland, The Times newspaper reports

The construction sector in Northern Ireland remains the only one still waiting a kickstart back to growth, according to data from Ulster Bank. Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA Wire Northern Ireland economy ‘showing signs of improvement’

Business activity is stabilising and some sectors are starting to grow, Ulster Bank data shows